I was at Maloney on Wednesday evening when Dr. Keith Rowley analyzed the Government’s laptop program. Dr. Rowley did not have to do much work since he read from a document that pointed out the introduction of laptops and the incorporation of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in our schools “had no statistically significant impact on student performance.” It also found that staff and student groups registered “a relatively high dissatisfaction with the provision of internet service” and the implementation of the laptop program.Continue reading ‘The Laptop Scandal’

IN days of old here in Trinidad, people one or two generations ahead of mine used an adage, “when yuh crooked, wet brown paper could cut you”.

The word “crooked” in that context usually meant “a run of bad luck”, although in the instant case of Jack Warner, to whom it now applies, it could be a double-entendre. And if wet brown paper could cut you, then you were really deep in the doo-doo.Continue reading ‘Wet brown paper could cut Jack’

Corpus Christi morning, I come awake, latish, closer to seven o’clock. I tune in to BBC television to see what’s happening in the world, since, Thursday being a Christian holiday, the local electronic media stations will have no real news.

Sepp Blatter has dramatically quit as Fifa president just days after he was defiant in re-election for a fifth term, sparking a flurry of speculation over the future of world football and the fate of the next two World Cups in Russia and Qatar.

Under intense pressure from ongoing investigations by the FBI and Swiss prosecutors that have already led to 18 senior football executives being charged in the US on charges of money laundering, tax evasion and racketeering, Blatter said he had decided to step down.Continue reading ‘Sepp Blatter to resign as Fifa president’

It is not enough for Finance Minister Larry Howai to say that he expects all of the $60 million stolen from the National Energy Corporation’s account at First Citizens to be recovered. What is needed is prosecution of those who stole the money and full accountability from officials of the two State enterprises who were entrusted with managing the $60 million in public funds.Continue reading ‘Questions about that $60m theft’

First of all while there is no question that the UNC did “tief” the PNM promise, we do have to ask ourselves why this particular promise. One answer has to do with what the Government is doing to the Chaguaramas peninsula. According to Planning Minister Bhoe Tewarie, the Government’s plan is to “monetise” the peninsula.Continue reading ‘Behind the promise of a causeway’

Yes, Minister Vernella Alleyne-Toppin’s contribution in the House caused the UNC Government’s no-confidence motion against the Opposition Leader to implode—rather than explode, as planned.

Yes, Minister Alleyne-Toppin offended our collective sensibilities, and we remain offended, probably more so because the Speaker allowed the House to be reduced to the Minister’s barrackyard gossip.

Yes, other political minutiae—such as the recent Express poll which rates the Prime Minister, in spite of her Government’s daily mis-steps, as being more popular than the Opposition Leader—are now occupying our attention.Continue reading ‘Before Vernella’s vile bile’